According to Russian state media outlets, a Russian court has sentenced a U.S. citizen to 15 years in jail for espionage.
Eugene Spector, who was born in Russia but later moved to the U.S. and got his U.S. citizenship, was already serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for bribery. On Tuesday, a new sentence of 13 years in a maximum security penal colony was added on, bringing his total time behind bars to 15 years, RIA Novosti reported.
Spector was also fined 14 million rubles, which is around $140,000. The hearings took place behind closed doors.
The Hill reports:
Spector moved back to Russia as an adult and became the chair of the board of Medpolymerprom Group, a medical equipment company, before his 2021 conviction.
The executive was detained in 2020 after being accused of helping bribe an assistant to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. Spector pleaded guilty. Anastasia Alekseyeva, the aide, ended up being sentenced to 12 years in prison, per Russian state media reports.
Spector was hit with additional espionage counts in August 2023, but the details around the case were not public.
Spector is one of several Americans serving time in Russia’s prisons.
Earlier this year, the United States agreed to a sweeping prisoner swap with Russia. (RELATED: Sweeping US-Russia Prisoner Swap Announced)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was among those released during the agreement. Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March 2023 and accused of collecting state secrets on the Russian military on behalf of the U.S. government. He became the first American journalist to be detained in Russia since the Cold War and was sentenced in July to 16 years in prison.
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